All play, no fun: Pushing back on the pressures of youth sports
Melanie Redd is feeling the heat as coaches and other parents set their eyes on her daughter Laila, an athletically gifted 12-year-old. From basketball, touch football, and volleyball, to family ski and snowboarding vacations, Laila loves sports – and seems to excel at most everything she tries.
But the world of youth sports has become a pressure cooker – one that, for now, the Redds have managed to resist. “All we ask when she comes home,” says Ms. Redd, “is how was practice and did you have fun?”
Others around the Redds aren’t so laid back. When Laila was 10 years old and shooting baskets at a local gym, she was approached by a male coach who gave Laila his card and told her he wanted her on his travel team.
It’s just not funPutting a price on hopeLet them lead the wayEveryone makes the teamParents hold the key